Coastal galleries lead the holiday art roundup

BILL FARK - For the North County Times

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'Tis the Christmas season, which affects just about every aspect
of daily life. But art goes on, and although artistic endeavors are
squeezed in among traditional holiday activities, North County
artists and art organizations stay busy.

The Ordover Gallery in Solana Beach announced a major change
this month. The fine art photography venue's The Ordover Project
will present a new exhibition each month from now through January
2007, featuring the work of 15 member artists and guests. The
exhibitions will showcase black and white and color photography as
well as glass sculpture.

During the same period, the gallery will host a series of eight
shows, featuring the work of nationally recognized photographers,
at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park.

The initial Ordover Project exhibition at the Natural History
Museum opens Jan. 28.

Lux Art Institute, scheduled to open in Encinitas in 2006, moves
one step closer to fruition this weekend. The organization
recognizes its Lux Luminaries —— members who join at the $1,000
level —— at a special event Sunday at the Church of the Nativity in
Rancho Santa Fe.

The celebration begins with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in the
courtyard, followed by a tour of the public and private church
buildings conducted by Lux Institute architect Renzo Zecchetto, who
designed the church under internationally known architect Charles
Moore. Other activities include a buffet dinner in the parish
commons, with jazz piano accompaniment and dessert in the library
of the monsignor's residence.

A major exhibition opened this week at Carlsbad's William D.
Cannon Gallery. The 2005 Invitational features works by four
artists who were featured in the gallery's juried biennial exhibit
earlier this year —— ceramicist Christie Beniston, photographer
Wendy Richmond, large-scale abstract artist Robert Treat and
small-scale narrative painter Jeff Yeomans.

Richmond, who calls herself bicoastal with a home in La Jollaand a longtime teaching gig at Harvard University's Graduate Schoolin Boston, has exhibited her photographs throughout the UnitedStates and Europe. Her work in the Cannon Gallery exhibit includesthree photo studies of the creative spaces she uses for herphotography.

"Overneath" involved photographing dancers in motion using a
variety of barrels as props inside Richmond's former studio in
Massachusetts. "They Say, 'You'll Get Used to It' " is a series of
photographs Richmond took under La Jolla's Scripps Pier during more
than 50 daily visits.

"When I moved from Boston to San Diego, I spent a lot of time
trying to find my equilibrium, and I came upon Scripps Pier, a
place that provided a literal sort of centering," she said.

Her photo series reflects changes in the tide, atmosphere,
lighting and beach debris. And the third series, "Seen," is a
series of etchings based on videos she has taken on her cell phone
camera as she travels between San Diego and Boston. Richmond
selected individual frames from her videos and then translated them
into etchings.

Beniston, a Solana Beach-based graphic designer and illustrator
whose clients include Starbucks and Target, has been working with
clay for more than two decades, and her work reflects historical
influences and contemporary forms.

Treat, whose day job is animation director for Nickelodeon
studios, creates non-representational works with encaustic, which
is beeswax mixed with asphalt and dry pigment and painted in
multiple layers on birch plywood. Yeomans also works in the
entertainment business as an art director for public television.
His paintings tell stories, from urban landscapes to surf culture
to the lives of everyday working people.

The 2005 Invitational runs through Jan. 22 at 1775 Dove Lane in
Carlsbad.

Some North County groups are mounting special shows for the
holidays that feature art objects suitable for gift giving. The Art
Center at Fallbrook offers a wide range of items in its "Art of the
Holiday" show. The exhibition features original work by eight
jewelry-makers, seven ceramicists, six textile artists and eight
glass artists. Also on display are objects in leather, gourds,
wood, mixed-media and sculpture on a small scale. The show at 103
S. Main St. in Fallbrook runs through Dec. 23.

Distinction, the art umbrella of studios —— housing 14 artists
and gallery space in Escondido —— also has an exhibition and sale.
Opening Dec. 10 with a public reception from 5 to 8 p.m., and
continuing through Jan. 3, are paintings, sculpture, jewelry,
ceramics, glass, quilts and fashion designs. Distinction is at 317
E. Grand Ave. in Escondido.

Exhibitions opening this month show originality. Galerie d'Art
Internationale at 320 S. Cedros, Suite 500, in Solana Beach, offers
"Sapore d'Italia." The show, featuring recent works by Bruno
Caponi, Abner Marzi, Esther Glina Montagner and Nicholas Roberti,
comes under the auspices of the Comites Los Angeles-San Diego and
the patronage of Azzurri nel Mondo. The exhibition opens with a
reception from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday. Among the special guests are
the heads of Comites de Los Angeles-San Diego, and Salvatore
Ferrigno, candidate to the Italian Parliament. The exhibit runs
through Jan. 31.

Santa Ysabel Art Gallery celebrates the great outdoors with
"Paint Out at the Rancho," featuring plein-air paintings by San
Diego County artists who were invited to spend a day at a Julian
ranch, where they worked side-by-side in producing art. The results
are on display at the Santa Ysabel Art Gallery, 30352 Highway 78.
The show opens with a reception from 4 to 8 p.m. Dec. 10 and runs
through Jan. 6.

And as usual, North County artists continue to be recognized
outside the local area. The latest to be so honored is Gail Roberts
of Valley Center. "Squints," a collection of her paintings —— many
of scenes seen from the deck of her home —— recently closed after a
monthlong exhibition at Keller Gallery on campus at Point Loma
Nazarene University.